Queen’s Award for Enterprise: Innovation

In 2015 Retrogenix received its first Queen’s Award for Enterprise in recognition of the ‘Innovation’ in developing and commercialising its human cell microarray technology. The awards, which are made each year by Her Majesty the Queen, are the UK’s most prestigious acknowledgement of business performance, requiring the highest levels of excellence to be demonstrated in each category.

Retrogenix’s unique technology has unrivalled success in identifying specific interactions that occur between a test molecule and the proteins on the surface of human cells. This critical step is traditionally a major bottleneck in many research projects due to the limitations of the methodologies that were previously available. As such, the technology is saving clients millions of pounds in research costs and preventing unnecessary project delays as scientists receive faster, more accurate results, often at much lower costs than investing in standard methods in-house.

The innovation has helped researchers to understand a variety of different biological processes such as how the malaria parasite binds to blood vessels in the brain, or how a virus attaches to human cells. It is also widely used by pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies for assessing how a particular drug works and whether it might have toxic effects. The technology is facilitating advances in medical research which will ultimately lead to novel vaccines and therapies for patients.

The Queen's Award for Enterprise: International Trade

The Innovation Award was followed in 2017 with a second Queen’s Award for Enterprise – this time for outstanding growth in International Trade.

As Retrogenix serves such a niche market in pharmaceutical development, the company’s export sales now account for over 85% of its total annual turnover. The growth in overseas sales of nearly 75% in the two years immediately prior to the export award was largely fuelled by expansion within the US sites of global pharmaceutical companies.

Retrogenix is delighted to have now attended two receptions at Buckingham palace and has twice welcomed Her Majesty’s Lord-Lieutenant of Derbyshire, Mr William Tucker, to its laboratory facilities in Whaley Bridge, UK. Mr Tucker noted that, over the eight year period of his lieutenancy, only two Derbyshire companies had received multiple Queen’s Awards – Retrogenix and Rolls Royce.

Retrogenix will hold the current Queen’s Award for Innovation until April 2020 and the Queen’s Award for International Trade until April 2022.

“It’s a rare honour to receive the Queen’s Award for Enterprise for a second time and to be recognized both for innovation and for performance in overseas trade. Although we have now worked with 14 of the world’s top 15 pharmaceutical companies, we continue to grow into new geographical regions as well as serving more specialized biotechnology companies working in exciting areas such as immuno-oncology.”

Dr Jim Freeth, Managing Director

“We have a fantastic team that has contributed to these successes and we are continuing to develop the technology for an expanding range of applications allowing us to further accelerate research and development for our clients.”